Finding God in a Broken World

By John R. Clarke

There is no doubt that we are entering the final stages of the history of this world. Lawlessness abounds, terrorism is on the increase, and wars and rumors of war abound. Natural disasters such as tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, cyclones, floods, and tornados are also becoming more common as the earth struggles under the burden of humankinds rebellion. So what does the future hold for the beloved of Christ?

Finding God in a Broken World provides insight into the steps to remaining free in Christ during the turbulent days ahead. The book explores seven key areasfrom embracing the love of God, finding Gods purpose for our lives, and overcoming the world, to living the victorious Christian life and remaining free in Christ, regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves facing in the coming days. Author John R. Clarkes scientific background gives him a distinctive insight into the Bible and the Word of God, and it allows for a different perspective on the events of the end times and Christian living than those normally provided by theologians.

Although the times of the last days can be fraught with tension, unease, and even hostility, it is important for Christians to know that by understanding the difficult aspects of Gods teachings, his positive purposes and his plans for eternity will come into better perspective. By meditating on these teachings, the hope and prayer is that believers can find inspiration, comfort, and blessings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504921251

John R. Clarke

John Clarke is an evangelical Christian based in Wokingham, Berkshire, England, and he has been a member of Baptist, Episcopalian, Evangelical Free, Methodist and Pentecostal fellowships. He has a BSc honors degree in microbiology from the University of Surrey in England and a PhD in virology from the University of London.

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© 2015 John R. Clarke. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/10/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-2124-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-2125-1 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ESV

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®). Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

1. Embracing the love of God

2. Finding God’s purpose for our lives

3. Be Holy as I am Holy

4. The fruit of the Spirit

5. Christ has set you free

6. Overcoming the world

7. Victorious living

References

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to our Heavenly Father the Almighty and everlasting God, to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and to the blessed anointing of the Holy Spirit who is our comforter and teacher. May you the reader, receive grace and peace and find many blessings among the pages of this book.

I also dedicate this book to my wonderful wife Kalpna and our son Sam, both of whom are a great gift and blessing from God.

PREFACE

There is no doubt that we are entering the final stages of the history of this world. Lawlessness abounds, terrorism is on the increase, wars and rumors of wars, volcanic eruptions, cyclones, floods and tornados are also becoming more common as the earth struggles under the burden of mankind’s rebellion. So what does the future hold for the beloved of Christ? Finding God in a broken world provides insight into the steps to remaining free in Christ, during the turbulent days ahead, in a world that is in rebellion and hostile to everything that is central to the Christian life.

The book is aimed at Christians at all stages of their relationship with Christ and should also be of interest for those who are seeking to understand the basis of victorious Christian living.

The book explores seven key areas to the victorious Christian life and remaining free in Christ regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves facing in the coming days. As Christians, we are either afraid of or want to skip over quickly the challenging teachings in the word of God, such as the struggles with and consequences of sin, and the coming wrath of God, in order to reach the more positive teachings on salvation and eternal life for all who believe in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. However, we shouldn’t be afraid to confront the thought provoking teachings, as these brings God’s purpose of salvation and plans for eternity into perspective. In this book I have tried to provide this viewpoint in order to show the exciting assurances of God’s plan for each one of His children as we move toward the end of time.

Therefore, this book contain some thoughts about the consequences of sin and the hurts and pain that they may cause in our lives, and how our past experiences may hinder God’s purpose for our lives and prevent us from being the people God created us to be. The early part of the book also focuses on the undeniable love of God for mankind and for His children. In the second part of the book I have concentrated on the very positive and exciting consequences of living life to His fullness, in overcoming the world to reach His purposes for our lives and in moving forward in victorious living before the Lord in these end times. It is my hope and prayer that you will be inspired, comforted and blessed by the reading of this book.

John R Clarke

1

EMBRACING THE LOVE OF GOD

Love is central to human existence, we all desire and crave love and affection. We all love to read or to watch on television a really good love story with a happy ending. When people fall in love and get married, everyone wishes to see the bride and groom live happy ever after. Humans are capable of giving a great deal of love and affection and long to be loved in return. There are endless stories of people sacrificing a great deal for a loved one, whether it is a parent giving up an organ or some other great sacrifice for their child, or even the ultimate sacrifice of giving up their lives to save a loved one from death.

Many struggle or in some cases cannot live without love. Indeed, it appears that love is required in increasing abundance nowadays to enable people to cope with the demands of this 21st century world we live in.

However, is modern love failing? In the Western World statistics tell us that there is a growing divorce rate, breakdown of relationships are higher than ever and more people than ever before are turning to alternatives to meet their basic human needs, such as anti-depressants, alcohol or drugs, as a form of escapism in a world they struggle to cope with. There were 851,000 divorces and annulments of marriages in the US in 2012.¹ The use of antidepressants in the United Kingdom has soared by 500% in the last 20 years, and over the same time period, the use of anti-depressants has increased by 20% each year across Europe.² If love is all the world needs and wants, then it is clearly not working. Or is it? Maybe we need to revisit what love is and get a clearer definition of what we mean when we talk about love.

What is love?

How do we define love? What do we mean when we tell someone we love them? Scientists tell us that love results from a combination of chemical reactions. Love begins in the brain when we think about someone or something we are attracted to or love and, chemicals called neurotransmitters (the scientific terms are adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin) are all released, and these cause other hormones called vasopressin and oxytocin to be released also. These chemicals basically make us feel good.³ But is that really all love is? A bunch of chemicals floating around and making us feel good? What does it mean that God loved the world?⁴ Is love more than just a chemical reaction? Interestingly, the same cluster of chemicals can be released when people love other things, for example, cats dogs, or even cars, and if people feel the same way about their animals and cars as people do when they love a partner, then in some instances they experience the same chemical reaction that make people in love feel so good.

There is the infatuation we sometimes see when two people connect with one another and fall in love, they want to be with each other all the time, when they are apart they are thinking of each other, and they count the hours to when they will be together again. They can’t help talking to their friends about the love of their life. They just enjoy being together more than anything else in the world. They do nice things for each other, they go out for a romantic candle lit dinner, or stroll in the park. They become best friends, and share all kinds of secrets, and get to know each other really well. Does this type of love endure, and is it a lasting love? Yes it can be because some people remain in love for the rest of their lives. Some talk about finding their soul mate, or their other half, or the love of their life, and love can be enduring.

So what is love and what does it mean to want to be loved? We want someone who accepts us, who wants to be with us, who respects us even when they have seen the worst side of us. We look for a soul mate, someone who shares the same interests, goals and desires we have for life. Somebody to spend time with and someone we can grow old with. Does love end here or is there more? What happens when the relationship doesn’t work out, and there is the pain of breaking up, or causing the home to fall apart.

The problem of worldly love

As we have already discussed, love is